Thanks a lot for your comments, guys! It's now time for Chapter Forty-Eight. I hope you enjoy this one! Please tell me what you think. :3
Chapter Fifty-Two
- DRAKE’S CASTLE -
Regret followed the guard through the hallway as they walked toward the restroom. They passed various elaborate paintings and elegant busts along the way. As they walked, Regret continued to play out his escape plan in his mind. Once they reached the restroom, he would put it into action.
They turned a corner and walked a few more feet before stopping in front of a door. “This is the restroom. Please make it quick, Young Master.” the guard said.
“Uh-huh.” Regret answered.
He turned the brass knob and pushed the door open. Inside, the restroom was tiled with topaz. The sink and toilet were made of silver. There was even a rack with books on the wall. Regret closed the door behind himself, making sure that it was unlocked. Then, he turned and faced the door, and waited.
Ten minutes passed by. Regret did nothing but stand there, staring at the door, waiting. At last, the guard on the other side called out to him.
“Young Master?” he called out. “Young Master, are you finished in there?” Regret didn’t answer. He kept watching the door quietly, waiting. “Young Master, please answer me.” the guard called out again. Still, Regret kept quiet. “That’s it. I’m coming in, Young Master.” he said.
Gotcha.
Regret quietly watched as the brass knob turned. The second the door opened, Regret lunged forward. He grabbed the guard by his collar and unleashed a fearsome punch. The guard was knocked out before he had a chance to struggle. His body went limp. Still clutching his collar, Regret dragged him inside the bathroom, and closed and locked the door.
Regret removed the uniform from the guard and changed into it. He felt a little awkward doing this while the guard was in there, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. The guard was unconscious, anyway. Then, disguised as a soldier, Regret left the guard in the bathroom along with the clothes he’d changed out of, making sure the door was still locked from the inside after he left.
Alright, now all I have to do is walk out of here. I just hope no one realizes that I’m an imposter...
With that thought in his mind, Regret began to wander the hallways of the castle, looking for the exit. He passed many extravagant decorations on his way, and occasionally exchanged salutes with other soldiers as they passed him by. So far, no one noticed that he was an imposter.
After wandering the halls for nearly twenty minutes, Regret finally managed to find his way to the entrance hall. As he walked into the center of it, he gazed around in awe. The sight was phenomenal. The walls and ceiling were waxed and topaz in color. The ceilings were high and concaved. A scarlet carpet stretched across the room, from the front doors to the vast staircase that led up to another set of impressive doors. There was a corridor on the right and left side of the room; Regret had entered from the right.
On either side of the double doors at the top of the stairs were large, detailed portraits. The one on the right was of Drake, and the one on the left was of a woman Regret hadn’t seen before. But, staring at the portrait, Regret had a feeling he knew who she was.
“... Mother.” he whispered.
Just from the portrait he could tell she was beautiful. She had a thin face and thin lips, and her brown eyes were big and bright. Her flowing chestnut hair was draped over one shoulder. She wore a beautiful robe made of black silk with white laced trimmings. But more than anything else, her big smile was heart-warming.
Regret couldn’t help but notice similarities in his own appearance to hers. They had the same hair and eyes. He thought that he and his brother must have taken after her instead of their father. He also wondered where she was. If she were his mother, she’d probably have gone to visit him by now. But, then he recalled Drake referring to her in past tense earlier, just like he did with his brother Yuri.
Has she already passed on, too?
Regret couldn’t hide that thought. He began to feel a huge pit form in his stomach. Because of his memory being erased, it felt to him that Yuri and his mother were strangers, characters in a story he was being told. There was no way for him to know if he had a good relationship with either of them. To him, all the experiences he might have shared with them didn’t exist. He would never know what kind of people they were. He felt robbed of more than just his past, now; he felt robbed of his very identity.
Regret sighed to himself before peeling his eyes away from the portrait. He walked towards the front doors and reached out for the handle. But, then he thought of something. There were probably soldiers stationed outside.
What should I do about that?
As Regret thought about this for a short while, he came up with an idea. It was risky, but even if it didn’t work, he could just knock them out and make a run for it. Although, he preferred to avoid that if possible.
After grabbing the handle of the door, he pushed it open and stepped outside. He found himself staring out into a grassy field, and beyond that was a large valley. A cobblestone road stretched from the front doors of the castle down into the valley. Silhouettes of trees, vegetation, and other such landmarks dotted the valley. There was also a large silhouette of a town in the center. Above the valley, the dark night sky was gleaming with stars and a large, bright moon. The light of the moon reflected across the waters of a river that flowed through the valley.
Regret only had time to take in this beautiful sight for a second. The next second, he realized that there was in fact a soldier stationed outside. This soldier was staring right at him. Regret quickly pulled himself together and saluted him. The soldier saluted him back.
“Do you need something here?” the soldier asked him.
“Y-Yeah, I’m here to relieve you.” Regret said.
“That’s odd, I haven’t been stationed out here for very long.” he said.
“Well, what can I say? Orders are orders.” Regret said with a shrug, trying to sell his lie.
“Yeah, that’s true... Well then, I’ll leave it to you.” he said, saluting Regret.
Phew. Thank goodness he bought it. Regret thought this as he saluted him back. He watched the soldier walk inside the castle. Once the door was closed, he waited until he could no longer hear the soldier’s footsteps before he took off sprinting towards the valley.
It worked! I made it out! Now I just have to find a way to get back to the others in the Physical Realm. Don’t worry, guys. I’m on my way!
Regret felt confident and exuberant as he dashed down the road. He was sure he’d be able to return to his friends. That confidence, as well as his desire to get back to them, drove him as he ran away from the castle into the darkness of the valley.
* * *
Naomi and I walked towards the front doors of Drake’s castle. Birds could be heard chirping in the surroundings, and the early-morning sky was overcast. The only sound aside from the birds was the sound of our boots walking through the grass.
We were walking along the front of the castle, coming up the hill from the left side. Looking up at the castle, I thought it looked impressive. The stone that shaped it was topaz in color, and there were stained glass windows along the walls. Just the front wall alone towered high above our heads. It stretched off to the left and right for several hundred feet. There was a tower at each of the four corners, and an even larger tower rising up from the center. The shingled roofs were colored gray.
Redirecting my gaze to what was in front of me, I, dressed in a soldier's uniform, lead Naomi, who was in handcuffs, to the front doors of the castle with one hand, carrying the sheathed Lokomo Sword in my other. We approached the soldier stationed in front of the castle, who saluted me. I simply nodded back instead of saluting him, on account of my hands being full.
“What’s all this?” the soldier asked me.
“I caught her sneaking around the castle grounds. She had this sword on her.” I answered.
“I see. Good work. I’ll alert the Captain. Wait inside the entrance hall. He’ll come to hear your report.” he told me.
“Yes, sir.” I said.
The soldier opened one of the double doors and held it open for us as we walked inside. Then he saluted me again, and I nodded back. The soldier walked off down a hallway on the left. Now it was just the two of us here in the grand entrance hall.
For a short while we said nothing. I broke the silence with a whisper.
“I’m still against this, you know.” I whispered to her.
“This was the best way for us to get inside the castle. And it worked, too! We made it inside, didn’t we?” she whispered back.
“Yeah, but...”
“I told you. I want to do everything I can to help.”
“I know. But...”
This incursion of ours was all Naomi’s idea. She explained it to me when I woke up this morning.
“Here’s the plan.” she’d said. “You’ll find a soldier patrolling around the castle, and knock him out. Then you’ll take his uniform and wear it to disguise yourself. Then you’ll lead me to the castle, saying you caught me sneaking around with a weapon. That weapon will be the Lokomo Sword. This way we can enter the castle without making you look suspicious. I bet the castle has some kind of jail cell in it. They’ll put me in there, and then you can look for Regret disguised as a soldier. After you find him, you bring him back to the prison-- if he isn’t being held there-- and get me out. Then we escape from the castle and look for Byrne so we can get back to the Physical Realm.”
“No.” I’d said, rejecting it immediately.
“Whaaat? What’s wrong with my plan?” she’d asked.
“The part where you get locked up in the castle’s prison! I’m not putting you in danger like that!” I’d said.
“Well, do you have any better ideas?” she’d asked me.
“W-Well...” I’d stammered.
“Exactly. Don’t worry, this’ll work. And I’ll be fine.” she’d said.
“And how are you so sure you’ll be fine?” I’d asked.
“Because you’re here with me!” she’d said with a smile.
I couldn’t resist her any longer after that line. She probably expected that, which made me begin thinking she was a little more devious than I’d realized. At the very least, she was really stubborn when it comes to things like this.
After we sorted out our plan, I did what she’d said and ambushed a soldier I’d found patrolling the area around the castle. He was alone, so I didn’t waste a second as I pounced. I hit him on the back of his head as hard as I could with my sword-- still sheathed, of course. Then, I dragged his unconscious body away from the castle and back to where Naomi was waiting.
She turned around as I removed the soldier’s uniform, as well as my own clothes, and changed into them. I even took his officer’s sword and strapped it to my waist.
I felt surprisingly comfortable in the uniform. It was a solid black, double-tailed coat with a collar and crimson red trimmings. The trousers were also back, and the black boots had red laces. The undershirt was red, too. The officer’s sword’s sheath was black, and the belt that strapped it to my waist was red.
“Wow Alphonse, you look like a prince in that!” Naomi had said.
“Heh heh... Thanks.” I’d said, feeling embarrassed by her comment.
Fortunately, the soldier had a few pairs of handcuffs on him. After I finished getting changed, we hid my clothes in a bush and handcuffed the unconscious soldier’s arms around a tree. We gagged him by ripping off part of the sleeve of my hoodie so he couldn’t shout for help when he woke up. We used the other pair of handcuffs to help sell the story of Naomi’s capture.
After that, we approached the castle and put our plan into action. So far, it was working.
We stood alone in the entrance hall of Drake’s castle, awaiting whoever the Captain was. It took ten minutes for him to arrive. He entered from the left corridor, accompanied by two other soldiers, one of whom was the one who let us into the entrance hall earlier. I nodded to the Captain as a substitute for a salute, and he saluted back.
The Captain appeared to be twenty, though as a Demon he could have been two hundred. He had combed black hair and dull orange eyes, and was wearing the same uniform that I was disguised in. Although, I noticed he had four stars on his shoulder. That was how I guessed he was the Captain.
“Presenting Captain Rinz of Demon King Drake’s military.” one of the soldiers behind him announced, confirming my guess.
That was probably for Naomi, the “criminal”, to know who she was in the presence of. They would naturally assume I knew who he was since I was a “soldier”.
“I’ve received a report that you discovered that girl sneaking around the castle grounds carrying that sword. Is that correct?” Rinz said to me.
“Yes, sir. She looked as if she was searching for a way to get into the castle when I surprised her.” I said.
“Has she said anything to confirm that?” he asked.
“No, she’s refusing to talk.” I said.
When I said that, Naomi made a “Humph...” kind of expression, completely selling the story of a stubborn prisoner. I began to wonder if she was always that good of an actor.
“I see. We’ll change that soon enough. Good work.” Rinz said. Then he paused. “... I don’t believe I’ve seen your face before. Are you new?” he asked me.
“Yes, I enlisted just recently.” I said.
Rinz seemed to be observing me very carefully. I began to wonder if my cover had been blown. I felt very nervous, but I managed to maintain my composure and prevent myself from showing any signs of nervousness. But there was something in Rinz’s eyes that made me doubt that he was buying our story.
Finally, Rinz spoke again. “I see. You’ve done a good job, rookie. Take her to the prison below the castle now. We’ll interrogate her later.”
- Phew... He bought it after all.
“Yes sir. Except... She’s already tried to run once in the time we’ve been waiting here. I may need some help escorting her.” I said.
“Then I’ll have Officer Berrigan help you take her to the prison.” Rinz said, nodding to the soldier on his right, the one who let us in.
Berrigan saluted to Rinz in understanding and walked over next to me. Rinz and the remaining guard saluted to us, and we saluted back. Then the two of them left back through the corridor on the left.
“Alright, let’s take her to the prison.” Berrigan said as he began to lead her to the corridor on the right.
“Yes sir.” I said as I followed him.
I made sure to walk just far enough behind him so that I could predict which way he would turn without looking like I didn’t know the way myself. After leaving the entrance hall through the corridor on the right, we turned right again and opened a door that was just inside the corridor. It revealed a stairway, and after descending it for what felt like a few floors, we traveled down a dimly lit hallway. At the end of the hall, we turned down another hallway to the right. There seemed to be several other hallways branching off from the one we just left. I wondered just how big the prison really was.
At the end of the hall, we reached a metal door. Berrigan pushed it open, and then we walked through the threshold into a large room. On both sides of this room were several jail cells, each with a lot of prisoners in them. The prisoners eyed us silently as we led Naomi down the path between the cells for a few feet. We stopped at the fourth cell on the right.
“Stand back, you maggots!” Berrigan shouted, instructing the prisoners to move back while he opened the cell door.
The prisoners grumbled as they complied and backed further away from the bars. Berrigan unlocked the cell door and shoved Naomi into the cell, then slammed the cell door shut rather loudly.
I felt a spark of rage light inside me when he shoved Naomi like that, but I did my best to hold it down. After she was inside and the cell door was locked, Berrigan turned to me.
“Good work bringing her in, Rookie. Keep this up and you’ll be on the fast track for promotion!” he said to me with a smile.
“Uh, th-thank you.” I said.
“Well then, I’ll be going now. Put that sword with the other confiscated items. They’re in the closet at the end of the room.” Berrigan instructed.
“Yes sir.” I said as I saluted him.
Berrigan saluted me back and left the prison, closing the metal door behind him. After his footsteps could no longer be heard, Naomi called out to me.
“Alphonse, come here!” she said as she ran up to the bars of her cell.
I approached the cell and spoke. “What’s wrong?”
“Look! These people were in St. Versailles yesterday!” she said, pointing to three men in the cell.
The three who were pointed out perked up. “Wait a second.... It’s those two from yesterday!” one of them said.
As the three approached us, I recognized them as Sigal, Kurt, and Winston, the Demons who harassed us for being humans. It wasn’t just them, either; a lot of the prisoners in that cell were people in the crowd who surrounded us in the town yesterday.
- Uh-oh. If those people are in here, they could tell the soldiers that Naomi and I are humans. They’ll blow our cover!
“What are
you two doing here?!” Kurt said. “And why are you dressed as a soldier?!”
I heard some of the prisoners around us murmur things to each other like “He’s not a soldier?” and “An imposter?”. I simply ignored them.
“What are
you three doing in here?” I asked, dodging his question.
“We were all put in prison because they held us accountable for starting that riot in town yesterday!” he replied.
I recalled that when Naomi, Byrne, and I were running away, we saw some of the soldiers arrest some of the townspeople for this reason. I didn’t expect that they were brought to the castle to be put in prison, though. I wondered if St. Versailles had a prison of its own.
“It’s thanks to you
damn humans that I was taken away from my daughter Arin!” Sigal yelled at me. “It’s all your fault we’re in here!”
“Humans?! Those two are humans?!” the prisoners around us said in surprise.
The prisoners began getting riled up, and they were beginning to get louder. I’d seen how hostile Demons could be toward humans first hand in St. Versailles yesterday. If this kept up, there was a high chance that Naomi could be hurt while she’ was in the cell. There was also the matter of all the noise they were making. If they kept up this racket, they might attract the attention of the soldiers. Then our cover would be blown for sure.
“Calm down, everyone! Listen to me!” I shouted over their noise.
“Ha! Why should we listen to you? You’re the one that got us locked up in here!” Winston said.
“Yeah! Why should we listen to a damn human?!” Kurt said.
“Because I can get you all out of here!” I shouted over the noise again. After hearing that, everyone quieted down. “I’ll explain everything to all of you, so please just quiet down and listen to me!” I pleaded.
The prisoners looked around at each other with uncertain expressions. Then, Sigal spoke to me. “You’d do that? You’d break us out of here?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll get you out of here and back to your daughter. I’ll get all of you out and back to your families. I promise.” I said.
I was sure that a lot of them were probably criminals who deserved to be in prison, but there were many from St. Versailles that were wrongfully locked up in here. Even though I said that to get them all to calm down, I wanted to help them escape regardless.
The prisoners were all dumbfounded. They began conversing with each other, probably discussing their options. Naomi and I waited quietly for their response. Finally, they all looked back at me, and Sigal spoke.
“Very well. If there’s a chance that we can get out of here and return to our families, then... Even if you are a human, well listen to what you have to say.” he said.
“Thank you.” I said.
Before I began to speak, however, I thought back to Rinz. My worries of the prisoners blowing our cover reminded me of the worry I felt when I was looking into Rinz’s eyes. There was something about his eyes that made me think he didn’t believe my story, but his actions contradicted that. It made me feel really uneasy.
- Maybe it was just my imagination...
- CAPTAIN RINZ’S OFFICE -
“That rookie from earlier is an imposter.” Rinz said, sitting behind his desk.
“A-an imposter?!” the soldier who accompanied Berrigan and Rinz into the entrance hall said in surprise as he stood in front of Rinz’s desk. “Are you sure?!”
“Yes. I interview every new recruit in person when they enlist. I know all of their faces. I’ve never see that boy before in my life.” Rinz explained.
“Then... Why did you let him go? If he was an imposter, why didn’t you arrest him and lock him up along with the girl?” the soldier asked.
“I want to know what he’s planning first.” Rinz said as he shuffled the papers on his desk. “He had the balls to impersonate a soldier and sneak into the castle. I want to see what he’s planning to do here. And besides, with that girl in the prison, our work is already half done. Even if that was part of their plan, it works in our favor, too.” Rinz stopped shuffling the papers and stared at the one on top. “... What is this?” he said.
“Ah, that should be the report from the incident in St. Versailles yesterday. It contains physical descriptions of the three humans who caused the riot.” the soldier informed him.
“I see...” Rinz said as he began to read it. “First we have humans appear in town, then Drake’s son escapes... Things have been really hectic around here lately.” he sighed.
“Indeed. About the incident in St. Versailles, it seems that the one who fought with the soldiers to let the other two escape the town got away too, and he is currently missing.” the soldier continued.
“That so...” Rinz said as he read the report.
Rinz suddenly stopped reading once he reached the part of the report that contained the physical descriptions. His eyes widened, his brow furrowed, and his hands began to tremble in anger as they gripped the paper tighter.
“S-Sir?” the soldier said.
“The description of the human boy and girl matches the imposter and the girl who entered the castle today.” Rinz said.
“You mean they were...?!” the soldier exclaimed.
“That’s right. Things have changed now.” Rinz said as he stood up. He grabbed his officer’s sword, which was propped up against his desk next to his chair. “I can no longer afford to wait and see what they’re planning. They must be executed immediately!”
What now eh? Alphonse on the doorstep and Regret on the other side having the same plan 
You are very good Az! Keep up the great job!! It's fun how Regret sneakes out and Alphonse sneaks into the castle